"This rift is extremely treacherous. We should map out the terrain first, or we'll risk an accident." After being looked down upon by Rachel Luo all the way here, Galadriel decided it was time to show off her intelligence and skills, hoping to win back some dignity.
With a wave of her hand, an elf brought over a lavish mithril basin and a jug of clear water. She poured the water into the basin, silently chanting a spell as the Ring of Water glimmered faintly. Instantly, a wondrous sight unfolded: mist billowed up, forming the shape of cliffs and crags in midair. As she continued, the cloudy cliffs stretched further—clearly, Galadriel was using magic to survey this deadly place.
"No wonder Lady Galadriel is so renowned—her magic puts me to shame." Gandalf shook his head in awe. His Ring of Fire wasn’t bad, but everyone has their specialty, and conjuring a sandbox like this was out of his league. "This must be the deepest probing spell in all of Middle-earth."
But Rachel Luo just chuckled, coolly called out, "Xiaoying."
"Leave it to me!" Liu Xiaoying whipped out a telephoto lens and grabbed a handful of tiny sensors. "Let them see what 'Eternal Night Holdings Group: Changing Lives' really means!"
Whoosh—she tossed all those ping-pong-ball-sized sensors over the cliff. They beeped, sprouted little rotors, and flew down like dragonflies on the wind. At the same time, Liu Xiaoying produced a crystal pyramid-like device. Light flashed, and thanks to its special tetrahedral structure, a 3D image of the rift appeared inside the pyramid.
The 3D imaging instantly stunned Gandalf and the others. With Liu Xiaoying’s controls, she could zoom in, zoom out, and highlight details—way more advanced than Galadriel’s misty, fuzzy magic. The difference was crystal clear.
Galadriel waved her hand, dispersing the mist. Rachel Luo scored another win, leaving Galadriel visibly annoyed.
"This rift is insanely deep—at this rate, we’ll be here forever. Xiaoying, hand me the sensors. I’ll go down first and scout ahead. Wait for my signal." Jack Young took a big basket of sensors and strode to the edge.
"Master, be careful!" Rachel Luo couldn’t help but step forward.
"Don’t worry." Jack Young grinned at everyone, then suddenly leapt—like a high-diver doing a backflip—straight into the rift. Whoosh, the wind roared, darkness enveloped him from all sides. But the howling wind became his sensory antennae, rippling out, echoing back, feeding his awareness and letting him map out the terrain as he descended.
Even for a saint of the mortal realm, Galadriel could never pull off a stunt like that.
Whoosh—the wind whipped his hair back, but Jack Young didn’t slow down one bit. He shot downward like a torpedo. This rift was crazy deep; Gandalf had struggled for ages to reach the bottom, but for Jack, it was just a matter of moments.
Thwack, thwack, thwack—he flung sensors out, nailing them into cracks in the cliff like a nail gun. Images streamed back to the terminal as Liu Xiaoying switched lenses, snapping shots left and right. The crystal pyramid’s display grew sharper, with more details. Everyone stared at the rapidly expanding images, wary of a sudden ambush—there were plenty of places for enemies to hide among those jagged rocks.
Far below, a streak of blue-white light flashed—Jack Young finally slowed his descent, using lightfoot kung fu. With arms outstretched, he glided along the rift like a soaring eagle, using his heightened senses to scan the terrain. The crystal pyramid’s map widened with every move.
Soon, the blue-white glow faded, and Jack Young landed at the very bottom of the rift.
"Come on down—the situation’s a mixed bag." He radioed up: "The good news is, there aren’t any living enemies. The bad news... well, you’d better see it for yourselves."
"Let’s go." Galadriel ordered at once: "Lighten the load, stay alert, move out!"
The terrain here was treacherous, but the rift wasn’t completely vertical—there were ledges and rough spots to land on. Everyone here was more than capable; climbing and leaping down was no big deal. Each person showed off their skills, and before long, the first group reached the bottom safely.
The Chosen Ones immediately set up lighting gear—a whole array of floodlights, more than enough for any situation. Out came the generator, the power cables, and—snap!—the lights blazed on, driving away the darkness and revealing the true face of the underground world.
"Why are these rocks so pitch-black? Aren’t they granite?"
"Nope. This used to be a famous mining vein, producing tungsten steel—a world-renowned precious metal. Aside from ultra-rare stuff like mithril, tungsten steel is top-tier. Blades and armor made from it are tough as nails; nobles from the human kingdoms would fight tooth and nail for it. But after the cave dwarves were wiped out, it all became history." Gandalf looked around, then suddenly frowned. "Last time I was here, I didn’t notice—where did the dwarves’ mining road go?"
Dwarves always need a road to mine.
"Not only is there no road, but the ground’s way too smooth—like someone scraped off a whole layer." Lord Elrond frowned too. "No way the dwarves did this, and the goblins are even less likely. It must’ve been someone—or something—else."
Rachel Luo noticed something off too. "And where did all the goblin corpses go? When we broke out, a bunch of them fell off the cliff, but now—where are their bodies?"
[Non-narrative web novel prompt omitted]
Galadriel closed her eyes to sense the area, then opened them, looking grave. "There was a massive dark magic presence here. It’s gone now, but the lingering energy is terrifying. If we weren’t in the Elven Forest, I couldn’t suppress it."
Strange signs kept popping up—everyone knew something big had gone down here. Darkness meant the unknown, fear, and hidden danger. As they stared at the pitch-black rift, everyone felt a chill and couldn’t help but shiver.
"Come over here." Jack Young’s voice echoed from afar. "The marks here are way more interesting."
The group left the lights behind to guide the rest of the team. A handful of elite scouts followed the rift toward Jack Young. Gandalf raised his staff, Galadriel lifted her magic vial, and the Chosen Ones whipped out flashlights—each lighting the way in their own style as they moved forward.
Shadows flickered, the wind howled, and after a long walk and a sharp turn, they finally saw Jack Young waiting quietly. He’d made himself glow with a faint blue aura—pretty hard to miss. The pressure of moving through this pitch-black underground was intense, so when Rachel Luo spotted Jack, she couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief, hurrying forward: "Master, we’re here!"
"Yeah." Jack Young nodded to everyone, then pointed around. "Check out these marks—any ideas?"
"Marks? What marks?" Chainsaw Girl looked around, even squatted down to touch the ground, totally puzzled. "Jack, the rift floor’s always looked like this—what’s different?"
"The rift? Ha, guess you still need more practice." Jack Young laughed and shook his head. "After all this walking, haven’t you noticed you’re not in the rift anymore?"
"Not in the rift? If we’re not in the rift, then where are we? Look, aren’t these cliffs on both sides—uh, wait a sec, what’s going on?" She swept her flashlight across the ground and up the sides, but instead of vertical cliffs, she saw a curved slope. She raised the beam higher and higher—the curve kept going, wrapping around and dipping down the other side.
She swung her flashlight in a full circle, shining it everywhere, then finally stared up, wide-eyed, pointing at the ceiling. "This is a cave? We walked into a cave?"
Liu Xiaoying did a quick scan and reported, "The cave’s length is unknown, but its cross-section is massive. The famous Channel Tunnel isn’t even a third this size. No telling how much manpower and resources it would take to dig out a place like this."
"Wrong. This cave wasn’t dug." Jack Young pointed around. "Maybe it’s so huge you missed it, but look at those scrape marks, the patterns on the walls—shrink it down a few thousand times, what does it remind you of?"
"Like..." Rachel Luo tilted her head, imagined for a second, then her eyes went wide: "Like—bite marks..."
"Exactly! Look, the cave wall looks just like a watermelon rind that’s been gnawed on." Jack Young spread his arms wide. "Obviously, this cave was chewed out by something with a huge appetite. And its mouth must be absolutely massive."
"Gnawed?!" The Chosen Ones looked ahead, looked behind, thought about what they’d seen so far, and finally couldn’t help but curse in unison: "Holy crap!!"
This massive cave was actually chewed out? So that giant rift was gnawed by the same thing? Forget how tough tungsten ore is—even regular rock, what kind of monster has teeth and a stomach big enough to eat all this? What the heck left these marks?!
"It’s an Earth Devourer." Gandalf, ever the wise White Wizard, looked grim as he revealed the monster’s origins. "This time, the awakened Nazgûl is actually a legendary, ancient, super-giant Earth Devourer. Now we’re in trouble..."
"Eh, it’s not that big a deal." Jack Young stayed cool and strode deeper into the cave. "All we have to do is catch up to it and kill it. No different from handling any other enemy."